Noir for the Age of Collapse

Tag: publishing

  • Kids, Don’t Do Hubris!

    Kids, Don’t Do Hubris!

    I have a marketing manager now.

    I wanted to do it all myself. “Writing in itself is a solitary endeavor,” I thought. “I wrote it alone, and I will promote it alone. I will make a plan and follow it.”

    And I did. I created accounts, I built a posting schedule, I laid out ideas. I messed about in Canva, Affinity, and DaVinci Resolve, I learned a few new tricks. It was a point of pride, doing it all myself. I even put it in the contact form disclaimer.

    It was going well, if not for the abysmal view stats. Hubris made me waste a month of time and who knows how many hours of sleep. Kids, don’t do hubris.

    So I hired a Marketing Manager. Well, “hired” is a strong word. I don’t have a big budget, so my very good friend is counting on the exposure this will bring him. I wish I believed in myself as much as he does.

    Some things will change of course, as they’re now directed by someone who knows what they’re doing. But it’s still my voice, still unfiltered, just a bit more organized.

    One of the changes is that I’m going to start posting on Substack, since it gets better engagement or whatever. I’ll still post here with links, so you won’t miss anything if you’ve got this site bookmarked, all five of you.

    That, in fact, is the only material change. I was going to say that I’m going to start showing my face in reels, but I was going to do that anyway.

    Oh, and I will sometimes refer to my Marketing Manager for comedic effect. He’s a great guy, he just needs better friends than me.

    That is all. Let’s see what this new chapter of online presence brings. I’ve made a handy page of all my relevant links. So, you know, please don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe. Click the bell button, if possible.

  • The Trouble With Excerpts

    The Trouble With Excerpts

    With the book done, and editing well on the way, it’s smooth sailing from here. Find excerpts, post them to social media, and watch that following grow. Right? Well, do I have a plot twist for you.

    For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been staring at my manuscript, trying to find some excerpts to share. And, while finding bits of interesting writing is easy enough, I realized that they don’t work as well out-of-context.

    Normally, I rely on the fact that the reader already knows things, and already feels about things a certain way. I do this with an innovative technique I like to call “having read previous chapters”. That doesn’t translate to excerpts very well.

    And even if it did, the excerpt needs to find a middle ground between “why do I care?” and spoiling major plot points. I haven’t yet found such a middle ground, or not one I could comfortably stand on, at least.

    So where do I go from here? Well, if I can’t create interest with words, for fear of spoilers, I can maybe create it subconsciously, by setting a mood. So I’ve taken to creating an experience for each excerpt.

    In some short videos, some would call them “reels”, I combine the words with graphics and sound to create context subconsciously, via mood, because the subconscious can’t spoil plot points. Or maybe I just try to make them look cool, that can also work.

    You can see these atmospheric experiments on Instagram: @byjohnmarch. I’ll try to find a way to post them on the blog as well, but following me on social media gives me a sense of accomplishment. Really leaning into my “tortured author” persona here.

    Come for the noir, stay for the existential dread.